


Existentialism, Sunny, and The Gang Goes to Hell

by treponema (haemophilus)



Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Genre: Existentialism, Gen, Meta, the gang goes to hell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-05
Updated: 2017-08-05
Packaged: 2018-12-11 08:37:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11710779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haemophilus/pseuds/treponema
Summary: If the show is going to make explicit references to ‘No Exit’ then we’re going to have to talk Sunny and Sartre.





	Existentialism, Sunny, and The Gang Goes to Hell

**Author's Note:**

> At one point I wasn't sure which account I was going to use for AO3, so this was posted to a different one. I took it down and wasn't sure if I was going to put it back up. But I have a meta pseud now so - here we go :)

The Gang Goes to Hell parts 1 and 2 make explicit, purposeful references to the existentialist play ‘No Exit’ by Jean Paul Sartre. The isolation with each other, themes of death and finding meaning, the literal drowning, sparse furniture, and arguing over whether or not they are really dead are all directly reflective of this play. Note the extremely similar quotes we can find here:

Dee: I can't escape you! You know where hell is, Mac? You know where hell is? It's right here. It's right now. We are in hell!

Inez: We're in hell. And no one else will come here. We'll stay in this room together, the three of us, for ever and ever.

Did you think I was going to quote ‘hell is other people’? We’ll come back around to that, but for now, we’ll sit on it and discuss a few more themes of Sartre’s philosophy in relation to the episode. ‘Hell is other people’ certainly applies to this set of episodes but possibly in a way that is unexpected. For now, let’s address the concepts of bad faith and being-for-others.

The concept of bad faith is a tricky and contentious one, but it is something very integral Sartre’s philosophy and to ‘Goes to Hell Part 1.’ Essentially, the concept of bad faith involves over-identifying with a certain role to the point of self-limiting your own agency. A classic example of bad faith by Sartre is the example of a waiter fully taking on the ‘role’ of a waiter when he is at work. This waiter role limits his freedom and only allows him to make a certain set of choices. In essence, he gives up his freedom to choose.

In ‘Gang Goes to Hell Part 1’ Dennis immediately points out what sins usually define them:

_Don't be gluttonous. Okay? You- no wrath. No lust for me. You know, which is gonna be difficult, given the implications of being on a boat._

Notice how immediately after Dennis picks out his own sin, he alludes to his lack of control over his own actions. Dennis has a very set script for himself as a lustful person. His choices fall, unfortunately, within the realms of sexual predation and exploitation. Throughout the episode, Dennis makes note of how difficult it is to not prey on the young woman he has his eye on. Because of his over-identification with lust, Dennis has given up his freedom to choose. In his mind, it is inevitable that he would ultimately fulfill the role of a sexual predator because that is a script that comes with overidentification as a lustful person. Ultimately, this bad faith ends up with Dennis being locked away in boat jail.

Dee, Charlie, and Frank also act in bad faith according to scripts they have laid out for themselves. By the time Dee punches the woman magician in the face, she has accepted that she is an angry person and has no choice but to act on this base aspect of her personality. Charlie and Frank overidentify with their gluttony and so are able to justify their heavy drinking and even consumption of boat fuel. Each of these characters ends up locked in jail because of their self-imposed lack of choice.

In contrast to the rest of the gang over-identifying with their sins, Mac takes the episode to over-identify with his religion. This is interesting, because Sartre often spoke of bad faith in relation to the action of religious persons. Religion gives a person a set script of how to live their lives, one they cannot stray outside of. It is interesting, then, that throughout the episode Mac’s concept of religion is challenged. His new church is not restrictive like his old one, and it even accepts homosexuality. Mac’s new church represents authenticity and, as we see later to humorous effect, Mac attempts to embrace that authenticity but oversteps and loses his faith in God altogether:

_Life is just a series of events with no meaning or plan, you know? It's like, we live, we die, we're gay, we're straight, we're tops, we're bottoms._

Faced with his own freedom and authenticity, Mac descends into existential angst. In the words of Sartre, ‘Man is condemned to be free.’

The concept of bad faith directly ties into the concept of being-for-others, which is really what the play ‘No Exit’ is about. Essentially, being-for-others is the anxiety of being watched. When another person views you and your actions, you have no actual control over how the other person sees you. This self-consciousness about how others view you is commonly referred to as ‘the look.’ Throughout the play, characters are obsessed with the look – both in how they view each other and how they worry that their family and friends view them after they have died. Near the end of the play, Garcin exclaims:

_Hell is other people!_

Essentially, it is the worst torment to be unable to control how others view your actions. Garcin’s sense of self has eroded during his time with Inez and Estelle. He will never find peace and will suffer with their eyes upon him for eternity.

Here’s where things get interesting. Because the thing about Gang Goes to Hell Part 2 is that it does not end, like No Exit, with misery and resignation. Goes to Hell Part 2 ends with peaceful acceptance of death followed by the gang being rescued from drowning. Why? The answer is authenticity. Faced with their own capture and mortality, the members of the gang gradually shed their states of being-for-others and bad faith that carries them through their daily lives.

There are many things in part 2 that directly reflect No Exit. Their capture, the furniture, the arguing, and the spilling of truths all are a direct homage to the play. However, there is a fundamental difference in the way that the show and the play treat the actions of their characters. For example, characters demanding silence to attain peace happens in both the show and the play. In the play, this silence is broken by Inez singing a creepy song and Estelle deciding she wants to look in the mirror. In contrast, the members of the gang, faced with silence, immediately start to play games with each other.

While being trapped in hell limits the authenticity of the characters in No Exit, the isolation in Goes To Hell Part 2 gradually frees the gang of their bad faith. Characters in _No Exit_ share unsavory information about each other and see each other as they truly are, and this is torment for them. In contrast, the Sunny characters air their dirty laundry and it is ultimately on a path to peace. Dennis gets called out on his onion usage in faking tears over Mac’s sadness, but at the end of the line, Mac and Dennis hold hands when they think they are drowning to death. Truth has not destroyed them – it sets them free to share a moment of peace together when they think they are going to die.

In conclusion, No Exit definitely has a place for Sunny and within the ethos of the show. After all, the gang spends their entire lives getting a leg up on each other. For example, look at how soon their peacefulness fades when they realize they are going to live. Often, part of the beauty of the relationships in the gang is that they allow each other to live in bad faith in exchange for no criticism about their own delusions and self-perceptions. However, it is interesting to view how the gang becomes when the rest of the world falls away and all they have is each other and a room filling with water. For just a few moments in their lives, hell is not other people.


End file.
